Photography is `painting with light´, a composition of color, time and perspectives. These energetic ingredients together with the photographer make for an exciting experience and turn her photographs of classic cars (or of classic car events) in to very special photos.

Petra Sagnak, born in 1969 in Germany, has been fascinated by the world of photography since she was 9 years old, and has been a part of her life ever since. Her passion for classic cars lead to the start of her project ClassicCar-Photo in order to visualize classic cars professionaly, emotionaly and in to perfection …

Photography is Petra Sagnak´s way to express herself, it is her personal passion.

To catch the extraordinary beauty of classic cars in extraordinary photographs is her obsession. High sensibilty, spotanability, joy of life and her joy to deal with people and their classic cars are typical for her way of working.

“Shapes, lines and stuctures of classic cars challenge me to create a photographic interpretation. Innovative and perfectly composed photos are the result”, says Petra Sagnak.

The photographer defines herself as the perfect photomaker for demanding clients as well as an artist, motivated by the approach to create perfect and highly creative results.

Petra is the Official photographer of Schloss Dyck Classic Days – Classic- and Motorfestival

Text: Thomas Gerwers, Chief Editor of ProfiFoto Magazin

More about Petra Sagnak: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | 500px

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Having a good eye and knowing how to compose shots and edit photos is far more important than having the latest $5,000 camera and $2,000 lens. In fact, what you may not know is that for an inexperienced photographer, you will get better shots with an iPhone 5 than you will with a $5,000 camera you don’t know how to use properly.

To put it into perspective, I have friends that only shoot with an iPhone. True, they are not shooting for magazines, but they have become popular on Instagram and blogs in their own right. They come out with very interesting compositions, in very interesting lighting and with very interesting edits. What’s more, a proper long-term social media campaign does wonders to promote your work. It’s much better than taking thousands of photos with a Canon 5D Mark III and not promoting your work properly.

Let’s take a look at a midrange setup. Imagine your photography quiver consists of an iPhone, a GoPro camera and a Canon Rebel T3i with an EF 1.8 30mm prime lens. You would barely be breaking 2 grand with such setup. And yes, you won’t impress onlookers with your tiny cameras and tiny lens. They want to see big and bulky. Nonsense.

You can easily take such a setup as far as you want. Here are some points to help you get the best out of a simple photography setup.

1. Don’t tell anyone about your gear. They don’t give a crap, neither should you. Concentrate on the photos.
2. Be creative. A good angle from a cheap camera looks better than a crappy angle from an expensive camera.
3. Learn your gear. You’ll get better results from learning how to use a T3i properly than from a more expensive camera you don’t know how to use well.
4. Be proactive and find the best lighting. Don’t be lazy. If you know the best lighting will be at 8am, wake up early.
5. Don’t miss the shot. All cameras are useless if you don’t go out and take the shot.
6. Setup good promotional channels. This is key. Be active in many social media channels and also set up your own site to showcase your work.
7. Look professional. If you do everything professionally, from color correction to your logo to your marketing, you’ll look more prestigious than your gear.

I attend many car shows. I’m always there early to take the best photos in the best lighting. True, my purpose is a little different than most automotive photographers. I do it to promote my car blog and my brand. Most photogs promote their work to sell photos. But either way, it’s the hard work that pays off. Not the price tag on your gear.

Take your time to learn Photoshop well enough. Same thing goes for other pieces of software you may be using like Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. Knowing how to use photography software correctly goes a long way into making your photos more professional.

Also, don’t go berserk on getting many different lenses. Sometimes it’s better to concentrate on one and learning every nuance on how to make that lens perform the best, in various situations. I’ve used lenses that are not optimum for a given situation, yet I find a way to make it work. Sometimes it’s just a matter of using a tripod or a remote shutter button to keep the camera steady in a situation a low-light lens might have been better. But instead of complaining, “Oh, I don’t have the right lens to make that work.” Make it happen! Take the lens you do have and find out how to make it work.

When I first started shooting, I had only one lens – a 50mm 1.8. It was so narrow that I used to have to stand across halls at car shows in order to fit the entire car in the frame. Doing that in a congested car show is tricky. Because, first, you’re so far away from the car you’re shooting, that people can’t see you trying to take the photo. So they get in the way or fail to get out of the way. Sometimes I’d had to wait 5 minutes in position until people moved and quickly take the shot. But the point is, I took the shot. I made it work.

Same thing goes for wide-angle shots. There were times I needed very wide-angle shots. I didn’t have a wide enough lens at the time. So, I used a GoPro HD Hero camera. You’d be surprised at the kinds of photos I used to get with that thing. It was not a GoPro Hero 3 Black, or even a Hero 2. Nope. A simple original HD Hero cam. The photos got taken, they got edited, there were used and served their purpose. Yes, they could have been better. But better a decent photo than no photo at all.

Of course, you have to keep in mind what you are using the pic for. Your GoPro photo will not get published in a full spread of Motortrend, but it might work for a small article or editorial column. You have to start somewhere.

The bottom line is, start somewhere. Use what you have. Learn to use the gear you have or can afford and keep moving forward. Set your goals and stick to them. Eventually you’ll look back and realize how far you’ve come and you’ll be glad you took that first step. Soon you’l have that 5D Mark III and also know how to use it.

Like many gearheads my history with cars dates back farther than I care to remember and my father is almost exclusively responsible. Photography happened a bit more recently, but again under his influence. I can’t thank him enough for introducing these amazing worlds to me.

I spent five years between middle and high school learning the various design programs in the Adobe creative suite before ever picking up a camera. This gave me a serious competitive advantage as a rookie photographer, because I knew how to fix all of the mistakes I made shooting during post-processing. Because of my family’s business in the automotive accessories industry in a very affluent area, I was shooting high-end cars in my spare time for private clients almost immediately and improving my skills with every shutter click.

Having a shorter learning curve made it easier for me to get picked up shooting features for small websites and companies; within a year I had done a couple shoots for big name tuner clients like Hot Import Nights and Mishimoto Automotive.

This spring-boarded me into the tuner scene, and through Mishimoto I was introduced to my (now) good friend professional drifter Matt Waldin. I traveled around North America with Matt and his team to cover drifting events from DMCC in Canada to eventually the full Formula Drift circuit between 2009 and 2011.

I learned the hard way that professional drifting can be political and dirty, even just as a photographer. Although I still love the sport I decided it was time to get out, and recently my focus has shifted back to the exotic scene where it all started.

For those interested in what equipment I use, I have a Nikon D90, 50 1.4, 17-55 2.8, and a 55-200 kit lens. Proof that you don’t need thousands of dollars in gear to shoot like a pro!

Thanks for reading!

More about Andrew Goodman: Website | Facebook | Flickr

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Thank you Kevin for sharing this great photo with us.

You can also see more of Kevin on Flickr.

Your photo could be next months photo-of-the-month. Join us on Flickr and start posting your photos. Or share your photos with us on our Facebook page.

Every photo-of-the-month will also be featured on our Pinterest page and as the cover photo of our Facebook page.

The crowdfunding project was promoted on our website and various social media channels. We also released a press release to various photography magazines, websites and blogs worldwide. Despite of these effords the campaign was only viewed 192 times and we did not raise any funds.

We started with crowdfunding to give our community a boost. We new it was a long shot but we thought to give it try. Now it only means that the development of a new community website will take a little longer. We have already started with some design sketches to visualize our ideas.

We are very happy to see that our automotive community is still growing and that more and more automotive and motorsports photographers stumble upon us.

I like to thank everyone who has supported our crowdfunding campaign and especially the following people.

My wife for helping me with the video pitch and her outstanding moral support. Uhro van der Pluijm and Trudy van Rooij for helping me with the press release. Garrett Grohman from IndieGoGo for reviewing our campaign and his support and tips. And George Smith for offering to help us out with our plans for the new website.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas for our new community website. We will take them into account.

When I was 22years old I got my first camera, a Sony… I cannot remember which one though…
After shooting for months on the automatic mode I got deeper into photography and learned how to work manual, edit and use lighting.
It soon became an out-of-control hobby and I was almost being possessed by my camera and photography, if not really possessed!

At a point I said to my wife… I’m finished and fed up with all of it, and decided to make a living out of my hobby, so I started my career as a photographer. Not knowing where to start, not knowing how the business side worked, I trew myself into a world that was unknown to me (my wife almost killed me for that .) With up and downs I managed to get through and was able to make a living out of it, so my dream came true. I was not an employee anymore and was finally a self employed man living his life like he always wanted to.

With my dream of being a professional driver, I realised I could take part in all of it and still mean something around the racetracks so I took my DSLR and went out. I’m lucky now to be able to combine 2 dreams in 1 job, being a photographer and work around the racetracks.

My biggest source of inspiration is Dutch motorsportrs photographer Frits van Eldik, I love the way he seems to get that moment he wants on the racetrack, his photographs are just stunning!
Hoping to be as good as he is one day, I can only say I have a long way to go but I’m very passioned about my work and I’ll do anything it takes to get where I want to be. Photography has become my life, my wife, my kid, my everything… (hoping my wife and kids dont read this now )

More about David Verriest: Website | Facebook | Twitter | 500px | LinkedIn

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1. Light
Turn the lights on of the car. This will make the photo more interesting as the light attracts the attention directly to the car.

But not only the lights of the car can make the photo but also the natural light can make a difference. Photographing around sunrise and sunset is anyway the best for the beautiful ambient light. If it really starts to get dark, a tripod is essential to prevent blurry photos

When it really starts to get dark you can also use longer exposure times to create light trails. Put your camera on a tripod and choose a slow shutter speeds while the car drives past. The lights of the car will form a long light trail. Using this technique on a winding road can result in wonderful results.

Photo by Diego Perri in our Flickr group.

2. Location
Cars belong on the asphalt. So don’t park your car on the grass as the subject and the location won’t match. Put the car on a road or use a parking lot. Lines on the road can be used as leading lines in your photo.

An exception to this tip is are ofcourse off-road cars. Cars that just belong in the wilderness look beter when they are in the wilderness.

Read more about choosing a location

Photo by Phil Grayston in our Flickr group.

3. Background
When choosing a location also pay attention to the background. Again, a rugged industrial environment is often better than extensive meadows. Also make sure the background does not form a distraction. Also try to avoid disturbing elements popping from the car, like trees or streetlights.

Try to keep your background quiet. It can help to blur the background by using a small aperture to use or something to take more distance and a telephoto lens to use.

A repeating pattern as a background can also be very nice, such as a row of trees or a fence.

Read more about backgrounds in the guestblog by Steven Poe

Photo by Philippe Collinet in our Flickr group.

4. Details
Take detail shots of a car. Often a car has beautiful lines which can be revealed when you take close ups of them. The precise workmanship in expensive cars and classic cars are also very good parts to photograph, such as hood ornaments or chrome details.

Also do not forget the interior of the car. Gearshift, tachometer, on-off switch. They can all be interesting details to capture.

Photo by Ashwin Gupta in our Flickr group.

5. Panning
A stationary car can look absolutely fine, but photographing a car in motion gives you a sence of speed. This technique is called the panning technique. With this technique you follow a moving car with your camera using a slower shutter speed. The result is that the car on the photo is sharp while the background is blurred.

Read more about the panning technique

Photo by Nick van de Sande in our Flickr group.

6. Rig shots
Another way to get a sense of speed in your photo is by using a special rig. With the rig you attach your camera to the car by using a long pole and suctions cups. With a rig you can use very agressive angles and get very close to the car while it is moving. You can also put the camera on a door, or the roof of a car. Again, you use slower shutter speeds to create the sense of speed. Using a rig also means more editing because you will have to remove the rig from the photo.

Read more about doing rig shots

Photo by Andrew Thompson in our Flickr group.

7. Try different angles
Do not limit yourself to the same point of view. There are dozens of angles from where you can photograph a car. Do not limit yourself to one or a few positions, but shoot the car from all corners and different angles. Get down on your knees, climb up something to get higher or tilt your camera. While doing this you probably come across a number of interesting angles. Each angle is at least worth a try. It will differ by car to find the best angle for the best photo.

Photo by Jakeb Miller in our Flickr group.

8. Use different lenses
What is true for angles, is also true for the lenses you use. If you are using an SLR camera and different lenses you can achieve many different effects.

Go low to the ground and close to the car with a wide angle lens for a more aggressive, menacing and distorted photo. Take a little distance and use a telephoto lens and thus limit the amount of distracting background in your photo. Use a macro lens to capture the finest details.

Photo by Chris Thibaut in our Flickr group.

9. Cleaning the car
This is perhaps obvious, but before you start shooting a car, clean it. Even if the car looks clean at first sight. It will save you time in editing.

And while you are at it do not forget to clean the interior. A shiny gear or a flashing dash can be ruined by dust.

Read more about cleaning the car for a photoshoot

Photo by Crystal Clean Auto Detailing on Flickr.

10. Look at others
There are many amateur and professional photographers who shoot cars. Have a look at their photos for ideas and inspiration. Our Flickr group is a good place to start.

To get your pixel perfect shot of a speedy performance vehicle, we’ve got a handful of tips on how to shoot exciting photos at motorsport events from the side of the track.

1. Find a Good Spot to Shoot From
You might have seen it when people use their fingers in L-shapes to create a rectangle space they envision their photos being within. You can do this if you like or just look through your camera’s viewfinder/ at the LCD panel to compose your image.

Try moving to higher ground and seeing what it adds to the shot. If you fancy some more chicane or a little less tyre wall just move to somewhere that will give you the exact setting for your photo.

Photo by Gary Hand in our Flickr group.

2. Learn the Driver’s Line
Learn the racing line your target driver takes and follow it with your lens. If you want the car to be placed in the centre of the frame, use your autofocus and select the centre point as your focus area.

Follow the car around with your trigger half pressed to get the car in focus – do this for the first couple of laps so you’ll know where to aim when your target car passes. Again if you need to move the location you’re shooting from to get your ideal composition based on the racing driver’s line then do so.

Photo by Jurek Biegus in our Flickr group.

3. Camera Settings
Because you will be at a safe distance from the cars you will want to use a long zoom lens. We’d recommend using a 70-300mm lens as this is an affordable, lightweight lens so you can move freely without needing to fumble around with a heavy lens.

Being far from the action means that you will need to set your aperture high, anywhere between f/8 and f/16, because you’re trying to set your depth of field as far back as possible, otherwise the car will look like an unrecognisable blur of colour.

Increasing the aperture will limit the amount of light coming in through the lens, making the image produced very dark, so you will also need to adjust your camera body’s ISO to around 1600+ on an overcast day. If there is bright sunlight then you can get away with a lower ISO number.

Last but not least you will need to set your shutter speed at a speed of around 1/500th of a second. You will notice that it also reduces the brightness of your image so experiment with reducing the shutter speed to see if you can achieve the same result with a lower speed. Alternatively you could bump your ISO number up if you require this fast of a shutter speed for your photo.

Photo by Juriën Minke in our Flickr group.

4. Start Taking Photos
Now that your camera is armed and ready to start snapping, and you have a position where you can get the exact image you want to capture, all you have to do is take the photo.

If want to take a few photos of the car as it approaches you then set your shooting mode to continuous but only take bursts of 3 frames at a time. Any more than that and your camera may begin to lag, which will deliver images of a reduced sharpness.

Alternatively you can choose to shoot in single mode but you will have to wait for your target car to come around before you can capture it. You could, however, take photos of other cars at the race as tests if you prefer to take photos this way.

Photo by Tom Setterlund in our Flickr group.

Post-Shooting
Once the day is up and you’ve taken your fill of photos, the next task is to sort through them at home and edit any of them using either Photoshop or Lightroom by Adobe.

Basic adjustments would involve adjusting the brightness, contrast, darks, and lights of your photo but for more in-depth learning on how to adjust your shots perfectly we recommend looking for some basic photography tutorials.

Photo by Jason Cornish in our Flickr group.

Top photo by Juriën Minke in our Flickr group.

Article written on behalf of Service 4 Service – providers of an approved BMW service in Glasgow, Scotland and UK-wide.

Thank you Rick for sharing this great photo with us.

You can also see more of Rick on his website, on Flickr or on Facebook. Or you can follow him on Twitter.

Your photo could be next months photo-of-the-month. Join us on Flickr and start posting your photos. Or share your photos with us on our Facebook page.

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